Fair TIme

 I haven't been feeling very well, and poor Kilian has been wanting to go to the fair this week. James took him today, and they had a lot of fun. Even though I got the pictures from James, Kilian looks so serious in all of them. Silly boy. 

Topaz Mtn

 James' work had a get-together planned up at Topaz Mountain near Delta. We have all been really excited for this, and James even suggested we make it into a weekend trip. The original plan was to drive up, participate, and then drive home. But some of the geologists who work with James told him about various places on the back roads going to Delta. So we booked a hotel for a night and decided it would be fun to visit some of those locations. We headed out early Saturday morning. When we got to Topaz Mountain, it took us a while to find where Landmark (James's work) had set up "camp". Turns out we went the wrong way at first. But we eventually found them, and the kids set to work right away, looking for topaz and chipping away. James's boss, Jeremy, showed the kids which types of rocks and crevices to look for and how to chip away to find a vein of topaz. The kids had so much fun- well, Avery did- till she accidentally smacked her hand with the hammer. Right on her knuckle, too. OUCH!

We spent a couple of hours looking for topaz and socializing with some of James ' coworkers. The kids were starting to get tired; it was getting late. So we headed into Delta to find our hotel for the night. We spent the rest of the night looking at all the rocks and pretty gems we had found, eating dinner, and watching some TV before bed.

Sunday, we made our plans for what to see on the ride home while we had some breakfast. On our way out of town, we stopped by a cute park that had an old log cabin and a historical marker. 

Avery was more interested in the PHONE BOOTH that we saw across the street and insisted on crossing to get a better look and picture of it. 

Our next stop was Fort Deseret, which didn't have much left of the fort. But it was still fun to stop and learn about it. Oh and the wind was INSANE!!! 😄

Next stop was the Great Stone Face and some petroglyphs that, according to the plaque, could have been a map and directions to fellow nomadic tribes on how to find water. 

Our next destination was Sunstone Knoll. We spent about an hour or so looking for crystals. Avery was having an awesome time, and it was really hard to drag her away; Kilian hated the wind and cold and stayed in the car for most of it. We found some more pretty quartz crystals to add to our collection, though. 

On our way up on Saturday, Kilian spotted a caboose parked in Milford. He asked if we could stop there so he could see it. That was our next destination. Like before, it was hard to pull another kid away, but this time it was Kilian's turn. He loves trains so much, which makes me excited for a trip we have next month that he knows nothing about. 

We were close to home, but I wanted to make one more stop at the Parowan Gap to look at the petroglyphs. They did NOT disappoint. Avery and James were tired of the cold and wind, so they just stayed in the car. Kilian was going to at first, but then changed his mind and came with me. It was amazing to see so many petroglyphs in this one location. Absolutely beautiful. Kilian and I probably spent a good 30 minutes. Then it was time to get back in the car and make the rest of the journey home to rest and recoup for the week ahead. This was such a fun little weekend trip. I really enjoyed exploring more of the areas that we live so close to and learning their history.